More than three years after launching the tyke-targeted YouTube Kids app — which has turned out to not as clean and well-lit as YouTube had initially touted — the video giant is going to introduce features to help parents handpick exactly what content their children are allowed to see.

In the next few months, the YouTube Kids app will add a “white-list” feature, something parents and guardians have been requesting for a while. With the “parent-approved content” setting, adults will be able to specifically select every single video and channel available in the app.

In addition, YouTube will rollout pre-screened content collections in collaboration with “trusted partners.” Those will be available starting this week, with initial collections from Sesame Workshop and PBS Kids; YouTube says it will add more partners over time.

The third new parental control coming to YouTube Kids is a new option to set search settings to limit results to only channels that have been “verified by the YouTube Kids team.” That’s in addition to the app’s existing ability to let parents disable search entirely.

Related

“While no system is perfect, we continue to fine-tune, rigorously test and improve our filters for this more open version of our app,” James Beser, product director for YouTube Kids, wrote in announcing the feature.

In response, YouTube adopted a new policy to be more proactive in age-restricting such inappropriate content. According to YouTube’s policy for age-restricted content, as part of determining if videos should be blocked from YouTube Kids, moderators will evaluate vulgar language, violence and disturbing imagery, nudity and sexually suggestive content, and the portrayal of harmful or dangerous activities.

Meanwhile, a coalition of consumer groups earlier this month filed a formal complaint with the FTC, alleging that YouTube illegally tracks data on kids who are under 13. YouTube says it disables accounts if it becomes aware that a user is under 13 and says it introduced YouTube Kids specifically for younger children. In addition, YouTube says it enforces policies that restrict advertisers from targeting personalized ads to children under 13 or from collecting personally identifiable information from children who are underage.

Last fall, Google said the YouTube Kids app has generated more than 70 billion views to date and has more than 11 million weekly active viewers.

Following the biggest fourth-quarter worldwide subscriber gain ever and some controversy around increased prices in the U.S., Netflix looks to keep its momentum going into 2019. From Jan. 18 through March, the streaming site will release 10 original films, including action-packed thrillers, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi, quirky comedies, inspirational dramas, an artistic horror movie and a viral [...]

Netflix’s binge-spending on content isn’t expected to slow down. The streamer spent a whopping $12.04 billion in cash on content last year, up 35% from $8.9 billion in 2017, according to its fourth-quarter 2018 earnings report. For the year ahead, Wall Street analysts see that climbing 25% — to around $15 billion on a gross [...]

Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries has set a first-look pact with Apple to develop non-fiction features and series. The deal comes as Imagine is investing heavily in the premium non-fiction arena. The company in June recruited RadicalMedia veteran Justin Wilkes to head Imagine Documentaries as president. The deal suggests that Apple sees docu [...]

Disney has rejiggered its business segments for earnings reporting to make room for the new unit housing its global streaming operations. Disney on Friday released restated earnings for fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016 to give investors and financial analysts better visibility into its spending on the launch of the Disney Plus, ESPN Plus and other [...]

Documents related to a 2012 lawsuit against Facebook in which children, sometimes unwittingly, spent their parents’ money on games via the social site will be unsealed, according to a Monday ruling from the United States District Court. The court gave Facebook ten days to file unredacted documents in accordance with the ruling. The 2012 lawsuit [...]

Facebook has restructured its augmented and virtual reality research division and set up a new group tasked with building augmented reality (AR) glasses, according to a new Business Insider report. Facebook acknowledged the move in a statement given to the publication, saying that the move affected “a few hundred people.” The group has already built [...]